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NSAAC Business Meeting Minutes

President Stone called the March Business Meeting of the NSAAC to order at 8:14 PM. There were 7 members present plus 4 Board members. There was a quorum. Meeting was official.

Secretary: Minutes of the April meeting were approved by acclamation.

Treasurer: Treasurer’s books will not be closed until May.

Membership: Kevin Ackert announced that we have 69 paid members in good standing and 42 yet to renew.

Early Meeting Announcements: Open forum on the agenda after New Business.

Committee Reports:

Merrimack College: The observatory was opened the last two Wednesdays of April. On the 24th opened to partially cloudy skies and had one elderly couple as guests. Kandy could not open on the 1st so Kevin opened to great skies and 15 guests.

Salem State: The observatory was closed on April 1st. On the 8th Dennis entertained 25 boy scouts and families. Observatory was closed on the 15th and opened on the 22nd with 6 people. On the 29th there were16 guests mostly students from the university but none were astronomy students. On May 1st Dennis opened for solar viewing with only 6 guests and they were treated to large solar prominence. There is a problem with the crank on the dome and a water leak on the dome opening.

News, Correspondence, and Upcoming Activities:

Star Party Committee: Brewster indicated that we had two star parties last month. Fred Sammartino did a scout troop at Merrimack as well. Pentucket Elementary in Haverhill on April 9, approx 30, 1st through 4th graders. Clouds limited viewing to glimpses of Jupiter. Goldthwait Reservation Marblehead had a successful evening on the 3rd try on the 25th, with 10 people coming. Danvers Holten Richmond on the 30th had 60 people, including two YAP winners. Lowell’s Sullivan Middle was clouded out and will reschedule for the fall.

YAP Program: YAP awards are tomorrow May 4th. The club is awarding 5 telescopes and 6 binoculars. Telescopes will be assembled in the morning on Saturday the 5th and awarded at 1 pm.

Old Business: The club still would like to find other volunteers to do star party presentations. If anyone is interested please contact Brewster LaMacchia.

New Business: Comments were provided by various members who attended NEAF. Several were impressed with the f3 Dobs which will be 20, 22, and 24 inch apertures. Opticsmart.com had some Dobs which appear to be better than the Orion’s and included some of the new “goodies” for Dobs such as mirror springs and washers for the secondary mirror.

There was a discussion of the Boy Scout incident in which the scouts shined lights at the observers and the troop leader called the local police who came and asked questions and told the observers to have a good night.

Kevin Ackert discussed the potential of using a mirror from Chris McCarty and making a club Dob. The mirror is an f3.5. Kevin is asking if the club would be interested in supporting this effort. A suggestion was made for Kevin to write up a proposal for the club members to read including somewhat of an estimate of the costs and how much it would cost the club over time.

Board Meeting date and time was set for 7:30 PM, Tuesday, May 14th at Veasey.